Boat construction



Oct. 4, 1949. F. J. DE BOISBLANC BOAT CONSTRUCTION Filed 001:. l, 1947 G. 5 M5 E w .r W? Z. N M W Patented Get. 4, 1949 UNI TED .S TATES TEN-T OFFICE BoA'r .oonsrniihii ififi Felix J. de Boisbla'iic, ofleansms. Application October 1, 1947; Serial-No. 777 195 2 Claims. (cit-e) .1. This invention relates to'boats and more particularly to a novel boat construction which is especially adapted for canoes, and the like, although it may also be used to advantage for .othertypes of sin-all boats, such as rowboats, etc.

x It has been proposed heretofore to make small boats, such as canoes, of metal. By making the hull of metal, :such as aluminum, rather than --wood, certain advantages are obtained from the .manufactliring point of view. Also, a metal boat is not 'afieeted adversely by heat and sun, does not absorb water, and can be maintained in. good condition at a relatively low cost.

-Metal boats, of course, require bracing. In

'addition, it is particularly important that such a boathave a "water-'tightcompartment or com- .partmentsfor maintaining it afloat even when 'the boat is. filled with water. -Lametal boat cannot be fully realized unless the bracing and the water-tight compartition are arranged in a simple manner allowing manufacture. at low cost and resulting in the least possible :obstruction in the use of the boat. The bracing and .compartitionin means of prior boat-s; metal or otherwise, fall far short of these requirements.

The advantagesof The object of the present invention, therefore,

s is toprovide a boat construction, preferably :metal, in which the hull isbraced and compartitionedin a simple and efiicient manner,- whereby" the boat is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and requires a'minimum of structuralelements. l

A boat made in accordance with the invention is characterizedby a seat-structure which serves also. to brace the hull laterally and to provide a water-tight brfii'iartinent.

More particularly, the hull contains a hollowtrans'verse member having a 'seat'portion-at th-topl: The transverse member also has a pair of opposed Walls. extendwalls extending from the sides" of the seat portion to the adjacent sides of the hull. The latter or side walls of the transverse member join the opposed front and rear walls and form therewith a substantially continuous edge portion which contacts the sides and bottom of the hull. The transverse member is secured to the hull along this continuous edge portion in such a manner as to make the joint water-tight. Thus, the seat portion and the walls extending therefrom form an efiective cross-bracing for the hull and in addition provide a water-tight compartment which prevents the boat from sinking when it is filled with water. Preferably, the hull and the downwardly to the bottom of the hull'from fibnt al ld fetl edges Of the Seat portion,.and

' the sheet" being so'cut hollow 'seatstructure are made of sheet-metal,

at the bottom so that it can be made y simiile pressing operation. In this Way, thecontinuous edgeportion by which the seat Structure s secured tothe hull can be in the form of a'flange extending outwardly along the edge of the :bottom opening in the seat structure. A V y I 'In the preferred construction, the hi llisifurther reinforced by bending its sides e ites-rages: the topto form U 4 channel-shapedelements on these fl i fi of the channel elementsfis" disposed aniinfverted ,position on its flange, sq that one-e'fj the depending sides of the element extends fdownwardly below the outer edge of; the; 'fiange, while the other depending's'ide lies within tlie and directly over. part of the edge portion of'the'lrllow, seat structure where it is secured to'the l.

With this construction, the channel "elem strengthenthe hull, in conjunction with the- Wale flanges, and also serve to" protect the gunan view of a boatmade according to the invention, showingitwo' of'the seatstr'uotures;

Frig. :21 is a side view of the boat; illustrated in -.l':. l V Fig. 3 is a erspective view of part of tn' e'lio'a t,

showingdetails of one of the seat structures afid j F 'ig'. 4; is a" transverse sectional view of partof theboat,onarienlarged scale'relative tothfe preceding views, illustrating details of the, guiiwale .co'ns'truetion.

The boat illustrated iii the drawing is a. shite in the form of apirogu'ee It comprises hulk, The rferably made from ashee't'of am that when thesid'e's are drawn together to form the hull, the latter is provided with tapered ends 10a and lb. The sides Ila and llb may be held together at the ends by generally V-shaped members |2a and [2b secured to the sheet material.

The boat has one or more seat structures 14 extending transversely of the hull. As shown, the boat is provided with two seat structures M spaced apart longitudinally of the hull, the spacing of the two seats being such as to provide the boat with the desired balance. Since the two seat structures M are identical in form, it is necessary to describe only one of them.

.tion outwardly to form The joint between tional structural aluminum sheet, by simply channel-shaped member 2! means of bolts 22. mounted on its gunwale flange Each seat 14 comprises a hollow transverse member which is flat at the top to provide the seat portion. Two opposed transverse walls l5 and I6 extend downwardly to the bottom ll of the hull from the transverse edges, respectively, of the seat portion. Also, side walls l1 extend outwardly from the seat portion to the adjacent sides Ho and Nb of the hull, the side walls I! joining the generally vertical transverse walls 15 and I6. Preferably, the side walls 11 are inclined upwardly from the flat seat portion and terminate near the gunwale of the boat, so that the seat portion is disposed well below the gunwale. In this way, the seat portion is sufficiently low to afford the desired stability to the boat when the seat is occupied.

The transverse walls 15 and i5 and the side walls H of the seat structure form a continuous edge portion which conforms closely to the contour of the sides and bottom of the hull. The

edge portion is secured along its entire length to the bottom and sides of the hull, the joint being conveniently effected by bending the edge pora continuous flange l8 otherwise secured to the hull. the hull and the edge flange i8 is made water-tight, whereby the seat structure forms a water-tight compartment below the seat portion l4. 7

It will be observed that the transverse seat structure [4, being rigidly secured to the sides and bottom of the hull, serves to cross-brace the latter. This cross-bracing is particularly effective for the reason that it extends continuously which is riveted or from the bottom of the hull to a region just below the gunwale where seat structure terminate.

the side walls I! of the By using two of the seat structures M, as illustrated, the hull can be "adequately cross-braced by the seat structures alone, it being unnecessary to provide any addimember for this purpose. Moreover, the water-tight compartment formed by the seat structure afiords a means for maintaining the boat afloat even when it is filled with water.

The seat structure l4 may be made from an pressing the sheet into the hollow form illustrated, in which the hollow body is open at the bottom. By reason of the continuous flange 18 around the edge of the hollow seat structure, the latter can be easily secured to the hull.

In order to provide further reinforcement for it, I prefer to utilize the gunwale coneach side of the hull is bent outwardly to form a horizontally. extending gunwale flange 20. A is mounted on top of each flange 20 and secured thereto, as by Each channel member 2| is 20 in an inverted position, so that the outer side 2111 of the channel member extends downwardly below the outer edge of the gunwale flange, while the inner side 2|?) extends downwardly in engagement with the inner surface of the adjacent side of the hull. Thus, the lower edge of the inner side Zlb lies just above the upper edge portion I8 of the seat structure where it is joined to the adjacent side of the hull. The inverted channel member 2! adds considerable rigidity and strength to the hull, in conjunction with the gunwale flange 20, and also afiords protection against the outwardly projecting edge of the gunwale flange.

I claim:

1. A boat construction adapted especially for canoes, and the like, which comprises a hull, a hollow seat member extending transversely of the hull and having a seat portion at the top and opposed walls extending downwardly from the seat portion to the bottom of the hull, said member also having walls extending from the sides of the seat portion to the adjacent sides of the hull and joining said opposed walls to form therewith a substantially continuous edge portion conforming to the contour of the adjacent sides and bottom of the hull, and means for securing said edge portion to the hull in water-tight relation thereto, whereby the seat member acts to brace the hull and forms a water-tight compartment under said seat portion, in which the hull and seat member are metal, the sides of the hull being turned outwardly at the top to form horizontally extending gunwale flanges, the construction comprising also an inverted, channel-shaped element secured to each flange with the depending sides of said element extending below the flange, the inner side of each of said elements lying within the hull adjacent one side thereof and overlying part of said edge portion of the seat member.

2. A boat construction adapted especially for canoes, and the like, which comprises a metal hull, the sides of which are turned outwardly'at the top to form outwardly extendin gunwale flanges, and an inverted, channel-shaped element secured to each flange for reinforcing the gunwale, the depending sides of the element extending below the flange, one of the depending sides of each element being outside the edge of the flange, and the other depending side lying within the hull adjacent one side thereof.

FELIX J. or: BOISBLANC.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Pitre Aug. 6, .1912 

